A Short Guide to Smart B2B Marketing Launches

The good news about B2B marketing is its ultimate practical nature. To misquote Chaucer, “Value will out.” In the majority of cases, business-to-business purchasing is driven by practical considerations including but not limited to:

-Clear and understandable value your offering brings to the buyer

-Timing, as B2B purchases are typically made only when needed (sometimes later!)

-Reputation, because business purchasing decision-makers are often risk averse

-The right price, because the bottom line matters and competition, both direct and indirect, can be fierce; but remember, the lowest price on the market may connote “cheap” so play your cards right

-Problem-solving and pain reduction, because business is nearly always tough and your offering should make it easier

The other good news about B2B marketing launches is that, if you do your homework, you can pretty nicely identify and target your prospective buyers.

-Decide if you have one or multiple vertical markets to reach (schools, hospitals and hotels or just one of these)?

-Determine who is likely to make and to influence the buying decision.

-Research the way these people, as a group or singly, like to get their information (websites, trade shows, social media, video, print or online media, word-of-mouth, search engines, inbound marketing)?

-Remember that delivering your message via multiple methods and media will generally give you stronger results than the Monomaniac Approach of one form of outreach forever.

Once you’ve done some homework and you have your B2B product or offering ready to go, leverage your knowledge and tell your story.

-If your offering is “news” (and a new product or service of value typically is news), treat it as such, with media outreach, video how-tos, social media, trade show exhibition, eblasts, advertising, and lots more.

-Follow up with ongoing “drip” marketing, telling stories, creating case studies, continuing to advertise, and offering advice of value.

-Remember that when you are sick and tired of deluging the market with the same old messages, your prospects may just be beginning to notice them.

-Do you have a high-value offering and key prospects? Consider conversion marketing, in which you reach out to these same people multiple times, in a range of different ways.

-Can you become the expert in the solution you are offering? We may be getting tired of hearing the term “thought leadership,” but it still matters. Offering counsel, expertise and value through presentations at trade shows or conferences, writing white papers, blogging, and publishing articles makes your expertise, and if properly done, your offering top-of-mind.

-Learn as you go. You may later realize that the benefit you ranked as third in importance when you launched turns out to be #1. Revise and leverage. You may find out that schools really want the product you thought was ideal for hospitals. You may discover that your best customers buy one or two right away, and that the biggest prospects take two years to get you a purchase order. Smart B2B marketers are ready and able to adapt to realities and changes in plans.

-Repeat. Keep improving your offering, your messaging, your targeting, and your sales. Once you have the hang of this, you’ll want to keep at it.

Before you launch: Imagine your product has failed. Conduct a pre-mortem.

Positive thinking is great. Blind spots... not so much.

“What could possibly go wrong?” is certainly a question that merits asking during any product or project’s development. However, a managerial technique known as the pre-mortem takes the process a critical step farther.

The pre-mortem process in three easy steps:


“We haven’t launched this product yet. But let’s imagine that it’s a year after the scheduled launch – and the product has failed. Okay, everybody, what went wrong?”

To give your team the opportunity to answer this question as thoroughly, as thoughtfully, and in as many ways as it merits, you’ll want to follow a process that encourages prospective hindsight, a method of thinking as if something has already happened.

First of all, set aside two hours. Sure, you are busy developing the product. Make no mistake (yes, that’s a play on words) you are NOT too busy to perform a pre-mortem, which is far less painful and expensive than the potential post-mortem you will perform when and if the product fails. Start with a two-hour meeting. Select a facilitator.

Second, have everyone in the room begin by independently writing down all the possible reasons for the product’s failure. Have each participant read one reason from his or her list, and repeat the process until all potential reasons for failure have been vocalized. Meantime, the facilitator writes down every reason.

Third, discuss.

And, finally, post-meeting, plan and make changes to accommodate what you’ve learned through exercising prospective hindsight via the pre-mortem. This may require additional team meetings. Again, it’s time well spent.

The research on pre-mortem effectiveness:

Harvard Business Review reported that “Research conducted in 1989 by Deborah J. Mitchell, of the Wharton School; Jay Russo, of Cornell; and Nancy Pennington, of the University of Colorado, found that prospective hindsight — imagining that an event has already occurred—increases the ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes by 30%.” Using prospective hindsight allows team members to think out some of the lurking problems that haven’t been brought into the light of day in ordinary planning meetings. It slows the rush toward completion to allow more balanced perceptions to arise.

******

“Why did our product and its launch fail?”
Participants' sample answers


We failed to market aggressively and one of our competitors then seized the market advantage as if we hadn’t been first.

We didn’t ask the market if it was interested in this product – and no one was.

 We didn’t make sure the technology worked seamlessly. Early fails damaged our image.

 Production was too expensive, and we tried to charge more than the market would bear.

 A recession killed demand for “extras” and our product wasn’t a must-have.

Consumers slammed it in reviews.

 Our CEO cut the budget just as we launched and we didn’t get to trade shows.

 We didn’t train the sales team to sell this complex offering, so they kept selling the old stuff instead.

 

 

 

Top five truths to review before your marketing launch

Recently I had the privilege of speaking to a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders to share facts they needed to know for any marketing launch.

There is nothing better than speaking to a crowd to vet what matters most to real businesses launching real stuff. It was a great experience, and I look forward to giving the same presentation again.

Among the 50 facts I shared, there are perhaps five basics that are most important for launchers to understand. These can form the overlay for all your efforts to follow.

1. You should exercise the full power and the breadth of launch marketing.

If you can offer “something” and it’s worth offering at all, it’s probably also worth launching. This means that you can conduct a marketing launch not only for a new product or service, but also for your brand, your messaging and even your point of view and organizational changes.

2. Many companies give up marketing at the least indication that “it’s not working.” Yet if you keep on marketing, you are already one BIG step ahead of the game. Many times, it takes repeated exposures to a brand, product or idea before a prospect becomes a buyer. By giving up too soon, you fail to achieve that critical number of prospect touches.

3. On the other hand, if you don’t believe what you’re saying, don’t say it. Sometimes we’ve worked so hard on something that we feel we have to keep pushing it along, no matter what. Consider the principle of sunk costs. Peddling a bad concept? Selling a product that should be retired already? Adapt, pivot or drop it.

4. ROI is important… and you won’t always have the means to track it. Sure, it’s important to make sure you’re getting results. But there are some really great forms of marketing (media relations, speaking engagements and cause marketing are just three examples) with which you won’t always be able to quantify precisely the fruits of your efforts…especially not immediately. Don’t get caught up in bean counting. Do the marketing anyway.

5. Assure prospects that they are not about to make a mistake in dealing with you. People seldom buy what they can’t understand. Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) kill the sale. Solving the problem of FUD makes the sale. Just remember, fear of regret is a very powerful anti-motivator.

Remember that basic wisdom - that which is most easily forgotten - can take you far.

After 30 years in business, I'm learning from startups.

We all understand the need for fresh thinking and continuous improvement.

Of course, continuing to generate new ideas and improvements demands that one also seeks sources for inspiration.

I am fortunate in this regard to have found a wellspring of new and original thinking in the principals of entrepreneurial start-ups. In recent years, I’ve become involved in organizations whose mission is to further entrepreneurial success. One great example is Valley Venture Mentors (VVM), a Western Massachusetts organization providing “support to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

At VVM and other groups, I have the privilege of hearing early-phase new business plans that entrepreneurs are pitching or submitting for review. Sometimes, I offer counsel on launching ideas, products and brands. Often, I learn at least as much from the process as I impart.

Much of what is true for startups is also important to longer-established businesses. Lessons in “what makes for a successful startup” that have made a lasting impression on me include the following:

Focus is important.

Daniel Goleman, author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, claims that the ability to focus is the primary predictor of both professional and personal excellence and success. The entrepreneurs who most often succeed demonstrate this ability to both see and remain committed to the overarching goals they set.

Flexibility is important, too.

Yes, focus is great, but focus at the expense of the ability to regroup, redirect and (to use an overused phrase) pivot can go beyond persistence to become foolish stubbornness. When do you know a plan is not working? Thomas Edison famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Sure, but more often, 10,000 failures indicate that it’s time to seriously tweak, pivot or discard.

The best entrepreneurs combine the ability to focus with the ability to continue generating ideas.

This is why we see so many serial entrepreneurs, who develop a company, sell it, and then develop another. And if an idea doesn’t quite work, they can often refashion it into one that does.

No entrepreneur should be an island.

During business plan reviews, many a seasoned businessperson will offer advice – on concept, phasing, financials, regulatory and testing matters, competitive scene, and more. Not only does the entrepreneur learn something, the rest of the review participants often do as well. There are a lot of really smart people out there, with a great deal to share if you have the willingness to hear it.

This is still a great world full of wonderful ideas.

Many of the business plans I hear are confidential, so just let me say… world health, the environment, education, communication, and a multitude of other burning needs give us the opportunity to improve the world. If indeed the world does improve, I bet it will be in large part thanks to the efforts of focused, flexible, imaginative, and well-mentored small and growing businesses and, of course, their fearless leaders.

Become a marketing machine

There's an irony we see regularly - companies that are resistant to taking on marketing ("it's an expense") but who are excited by the idea of "becoming a marketing machine."

Just as an individual is unlikely to get in shape without the day-to-day discipline of a fitness and diet routine, a company must take regular steps if it wants to achieve the considerable long-term benefits the right marketing can impart.

We can continue this comparison. Most of us don't transform from couch potato to marathon runner in a day, or perhaps ever. Both companies and individuals need to set goals they can - and want to - achieve.

Launch marketing is a great place to start: A smart company does not launch a product without marketing. Launch marketing is a great place to start because 1) it's exciting, 2) it's news and 3) it often makes the difference between launch success and failure.

Marketing can be done on the budget you elect: Okay, again, there are limits. Three jumping jacks do not constitute a fitness routine, nor do three posts on your otherwise anemic Facebook page. But you can start with manageable steps. Putting your website in order (get some outside opinions, on the likelihood you aren't seeing your own site through the prospect's eyes!), media relations (especially for product launches) and content/social media marketing (contributing to blogs, joining important conversations online) are excellent first steps.

Think SEO: Be seen, be found, be a player. Lead with digital.

Get help. It's worth it. Professionals, like the team at vSA, know how to get the biggest impact for your marketing investment. We believe strongly in the value of being a marketing machine, in the ways and at the level you elect.

Too late to launch? Not necessarily.

More often than you might imagine, customers ask our vSALaunch team if it is too late to launch (or relaunch) a product or service that has been on the market for a year or more - albeit languishing or not reaching its full potential.

Also more often than you might imagine, the answer is a resounding "NO, it is not too late". Here are a few basic questions that will aid in deciding if your offering merits a "the-right-time-is-now" launch:

-Have you promoted the product or service through advertising, media relations, trade show exposure or other broad outreach? For how long, how heavily, and with what reach?

-Is your offering unique, or is it in fact a "me too" product or service?

-Do you believe there is significant upside potential for sales growth?

-Have you reached out to every major market segment you can realistically expect to serve?

If there is untapped potential, consider your "the-right-time-is-now" launch. Your product or service launch can be as broad or as focused as needed, can address the sales messages that haven't yet reached your prospects and can capitalize on whatever degree of success you have built with your offering to date.

Nice to know that for once, time is on your side. Happy launch.

The nimble product launch

Make a plan and work the plan. We've all heard that guidance. Turns out that for today's product launches, what used to be smart is not so wise anymore, or at least not so simple.

Try instead: Learn from experience. Keep your eyes and mind open. Chart a course, then adjust as needed.


Today's best launches are conducted not by know-it-alls, but by savvy marketing advisors who have the wisdom to sail when and where the winds are fair, nudging the wheel where advantageous.

First may be the pre-launch phase in which the team builds a business case for the new product or service. Research, planning, validating that the product accomplishes the necessary goals, and making plans for sales and marketing all happen now.

Next, the soft launch: It's time to take the first steps. The team creates media relations/social media plans and starter materials, ads may be developed, a website readied and perhaps launched quietly, and sales force training and education conducted. The team agrees on how and when success will be measured, and on ways to chart the course once the launch becomes public.

And the main launch begins! Often, public relations leads the way, potentially with publicity, events, speakers, media relations, and more. The website must be up and running to serve as proof of concept and a point of reference. Support materials are available for the sales team. Advertising follows.

And it continues... Smart marketers continue the launch longer than they might emotionally feel is necessary. Remember, the fact that your team has been working on this launch for months or a year does not mean the public has been overexposed. The news is still news to them. Don't make the mistake of getting bored. Keep delivering.

And about nimble? Listen and learn from the response to your public relations, sales efforts and other outreach. Maybe there is an exciting product highlight you have underplayed. Perhaps there are objections you need to counter. Perhaps there are elements of the product that need to change. (Calling Phase 2!)

Through our vSALaunch service, our team has learned that a measured, smart, flexible approach to launch is a strong predictor for success. While we speak about your product or service, we continue to listen and watch for opportunities as well, whether for additional market segments, features that catch on more than anyone expected... and next-phase opportunities to stay steps ahead of the pack of competitors watching your every move.

Native advertising: What you need to know for 2013

What is it?

Native advertising is basically advertising that follows the format, style, and voice of the venue in which it appears. On Facebook, perhaps it is a sponsored story rather than a display ad. In a print publication, it is an ad in article format. On Twitter, native advertising could be a promoted tweet.

What are the benefits?

People are sick of intrusive advertising. They get tired of being interrupted, disrupted, delayed, and sold. But businesses still need to reach these people. Advertising that looks and feels less like advertising in many cases does the trick.

What are the downsides?

At the risk of repeating ourselves: People are sick of intrusive advertising. When native advertising isn’t done well, it’s just one more intrusion.

Any words of advice?

Native advertising needs to be good… really good. Think “Super Bowl ad quality” brand videos, articles that answer burning questions, sponsored posts that genuinely interest the viewer. Otherwise, native advertising can be a fly in the soup of non-sponsored content.

Where can I read more about native advertising?

Start here:

Inc’s summary

Insiders' opinions on its value

Contact us for an initial exploration of how and whether native advertising can work for your firm.

 

Should we be working together?

Ask me that question 26-plus years ago (when we were starting this marketing firm) and I would have said YES! Pretty much no matter what, assuming you could pay your bills, that is.

15 years ago, there would still have been a 89 percent chance of that same resounding YES.

What a change. We're saying 'no thank you' more often, whether to a client or to a project that doesn't fit, and suggesting other resources when we do. We're not going after business where we think we won't click.

Serious competition and a roller-coaster economy have, rather than influencing van Schouwen Associates to go with the "any port in a storm" method of business acquisition, inspired us to hone our focus. I noticed today, for perhaps the six-hundredth time, that we are not alone. A scan of the marketing and advertising firms that made this year's Inc. 5000 fastest growing small companies reveals some pretty amazing discipline in pinpointing and promoting expertise. From companies that serve payday loan clients, to specialists in marketing passion brands (sports and entertainment) to firms that (not surprisingly) focus on SEO, or on outdoor advertising, the best of "Marketing 2012" is a far cry from the 1980s-style ad agency that wanted to secure all-the-clients-in-the-world, including a fashion brand, a car manufacturer, a politician, and an insurance carrier... AND then insisted they could "do it all" for pretty much anyone.

Here in the otherwise peaceful Longmeadow offices of van Schouwen Associates, we've taken a long and piercing look at ourselves and revamped our messaging to say what is real today. Honing a focus is painful at times - sadly, there will be no high-end lipstick samples for us, and few meetings with rock stars (although I hasten to add that we are not ruling that out).

But let's face it -- as difficult as self-knowledge is for a marketing firm, it is no less challenging for our clients to give up cherished but flawed concepts about their own brands to focus on what really works.

Which brings us to our final point for today. If we expect our clients to come to know themselves and market accordingly, don't we owe it to ourselves to do the same?

 

(For those who care, here is an excerpt from the van Schouwen Associates website, telling the world who we are and what we do best.)

We have particularly deep expertise in several key arenas: manufacturing and related business-to-business marketing, financial services, health care and medical manufacturing, non-profits, and specialized technology products and offerings. Drilling still deeper, vSA intimately understands fire and security, facility development and management, architectural and design products and services, power and utility, safety products and services, building products, green marketing for business, products for industrial and hazardous environments, and insurance and banking.

 

 

Google and go: Information demands innovation

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A client commented wryly the other day that the Web as an informational resource is a mixed blessing. Like many other technologies, light-speed access to information has accelerated the pace of business and, much like the evolution from from courier to FedEx to fax to email and beyond, has created higher expectations all around. Ready access to information has made thorough competitive research easier... in fact, it has also made it imperative. This is how a new opportunity transforms into a baseline expectation. Everyone has the same opportunity and so doing business becomes more demanding than it was in more blissfully ignorant times.

Twenty six long years ago, when van Schouwen Associates opened its doors, competitive research (especially for smaller to mid-sized client firms whose budgets had their limits!) was typically a drawn-out and inefficient affair, depending variously on resources such as customers with opinions, loose-lipped sales reps and slyly procured sales literature and price lists. Information was often scanty and in some cases dated or seriously imprecise. But oddly, life was easier because the bar was set lower. We didn't intend that; we weren't lazy. It was just the way things worked.


The challenge today is that, with the exception of not-yet-released products that have been developed with dedicated attention to secrecy, it is possible to find out a great deal about other peoples' products and services, marketing messages, pricing, and the strengths and weaknesses of any competitor's offerings. It is often easy to reverse-engineer technical products. Why? In part because it's all on the Web.

Well, nearly all of "it" is on the Web. A frequent discussion the van Schouwen Associates team has with its clients involves what to include and what not to include in that very public forum. There are several layers of potential privacy clients can employ, including:

No privacy: Placing material out in the public arena online

Moderate privacy with potential for leakage: Offering material protected by passwords (often permission-based passwords with expiration dates and renewal requirements)... plus additional layers of security

Higher privacy but not perfectly secure, just ask Congress how leaks happen: Material that isn't put online anywhere, period.

Today, companies typically have (or should have) vast information about their competitors and their market opportunities. This is excellent.

Vast knowledge (or access to same) has also made business all the more challenging even as it presents clear new opportunities.

At vSA, we (and of course, our clients) know – more than ever before – exactly how high the bar has been set. So does anyone else who cares to look.

Result 1: Increasingly, products developed with insufficient regard to what is already on the market FAIL where once they might have succeeded. Less competitive services do the same because the customer's process of finding a better deal – the best deal – is pretty easy. Just Google and go.

Result 2: We expect that this universal access to competitive information will continue to yield impressive improvement in business innovation. Innovators and marketers have to work harder... and harder... and smarter.

What a career!

It's the dog days of summer, but there will be no lolling about here.

van Schouwen Associates has a career opportunity available... for the right person. We want a strategic communications professional to join our writing and PR team. WELL, you may say, that should be an easy position to fill.

Nope. In fact, looking for the right person to fill this job opening gives the existing vSA team a new appreciation for what we do every day. And it gives me a new appreciation for the team we have. The job opportunity requires a person who can:

-Face undaunted the task of QUICKLY learning to communicate intelligently about client specialties that may range from geothermal engineering to patented building supplies, aerospace quality management to investment planning for the wealthy.

-Write like Ernest Hemingway about said topics.

-Edit like... oh, I don't know, A.M. Rosenthal?... about said topics.

-For media relations initiatives, pitch to diverse, extremely busy editors, employing a keen understanding of what each editor, each venue and each readership needs right now.

-Switch between topics, disciplines and client needs at a moment's notice. And again. And...

-Genuinely enjoy working with clients who are smart, busy, facing pressures and deadlines of their own, and who trust vSA to create and implement strategic marketing programs that perform... programs that perform extremely well, no matter what the climate.

-Come up with great program ideas and innovations for clients.

-Work social media in B2B, financial services and other wilderness expanses.

-Work with the rest of us.*

Are you the one? Do you know the one? Be in touch...

*We're fun. Naturally.

"My boss says we're being bought up by a European company and nobody is supposed to know."

Social media can be an excellent marketing tool for your company. It's also a venue in which your employees are spending a lot of time, and every so often, someone makes a comment such as, "We deliver cold pizzas every Saturday night because it's just too flippin' busy" or "Rumor has it my boss is leaving the company - but he doesn't know it yet." Also every so often, an employee lets the competition know, in no uncertain terms, that they "stink" - or worse.

If you haven't established a clear, written social media policy for your company, you can call your employees to task when and if you catch these indiscretions, but the responsibility for any damage done lies also with your firm.

Just as your company has, ideally, established standards for brand use, for dealing with the press, for giving (or not giving) employment references, for use of company computer systems and more, you must also establish standards for employees' use of social media as it impacts your company.

Certainly, standards include the basics: don't talk online about confidential company matters, don't reveal new products, don't discuss litigation, don't harass or badmouth management or coworkers, don't flame the competition – but there are many other considerations as well.

As a firm that has long been involved in supporting clients in developing and managing their messaging, vSA knows that the power of social media can be used for good or harm - even inadvertently. ("Facebook, are you a good witch or a bad witch?") We work with clients to help assure everyone at their companies with access to a keyboard knows what's okay and what's not in terms of promulgating company-related information that could pop up on Google for years to come. We'll share more on this topic in upcoming blog posts, and are available to consult with clients regarding both their focused use of social media and risk management techniques.

Five best uses for a microsite

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Why develop a microsite when you already have a corporate site? There are a number of situations in which a microsite can be an unbeatable marketing tool. Here are five best uses for a microsite:

1-You are running a specialized promotion or contest. Examples may include: an offer that you're making in specific geographic regions and/or to specialized market segments. For example, one of our clients created a B2B promotion for just a few southern cities in which sales had been lagging. All sales and marketing outreach led small business owners from these cities to a microsite that offered business tips and allowed firms to compete for regional recognition... all while promoting our client's best products for small businesses.

2-You have a new Web application or service that deserves its own Web presence. Examples include: training, certification, relevant calculators, product life cycle assessments, competitive comparisons, product specification/product selectors/e-commerce, or specialized product catalogs. The sky is the limit here!

3-You are running a specific advertising/marketing campaign and want to test its success in bringing respondents to your landing page - a microsite allows you not only to track responses but also to continue the conversation or even clinch the sale on the spot.

4-You want to communicate actively with customers and prospects, creating a special place for them to speak or be recognized, through vehicles such as customer-focused case studies, awards, testimonials, Q & A, real-time communications, or other personalized content that develops and sustains relationships between your firm and your customers.

5-You want to entertain, engage or inform customers and prospects on a site that does not overtly promote your products, brand or services as the main corporate site may do. However, consider that you need to plan to "hook" these prospects at some point, so some (even subtle) branding and a link to your main company site are often in order; this is also an important consideration for search engine optimization (SEO).

Your thoughts and experiences? We'd enjoy learning from you.

Hot day kick start – for rainmakers only

It's a hot summer day. So sometimes what's obvious eludes us. After all, the sidewalks are steaming.

Here's an example from my own role as rainmaker: vSA offers strategic marketing. GREAT, I think to myself. PR with a new emphasis on interactive, really sharp Web outreach, innovative sales tools, advertising... and lots more. Cool.

BUT.

What does a prospect care about marketing, really (perhaps not much). It's my job to light the fire by determining SPECIFICALLY how vSA can improve the prospect's situation and life.

As in... vSA bolsters sales, builds market share, helps create thought leaders. vSA makes companies more visible than their competition so they LOOK BETTER than their competition, SELL MORE than their competition, and WIN in a dog-eat-dog economy.

Furthermore, we help make our individual clients ever more successful as executives or business owners. vSA can help them make more money as well as enable them to go home on time more often – feeling good – so they can ride their bikes or float in the pool.

After all, it IS hot out there.

Naptime has been canceled.

As I compose this post on a lovely summer afternoon, financial headlines include phrases such as "market swoon" and "U.S. Economy Is a Complete Disaster".  That's arguable, but nonetheless, it's no time for business professionals to close their eyes, not even for a moment. Here's why:

We're doing it all. Productivity continues to be high, because there are fewer people doing more jobs, working longer hours, coming up with better ideas. If we don't remain at the alert (or if we don't hire back some of those people we've ushered to the sidelines) production will fall and our ability to respond to opportunities quickly will drop.

Prospects and customers say "maybe" and "no" more easily than they say "yes". We must stay on our toes to give them reasons to move forward with us. They'll save money. They'll save time (which is money). They'll be more productive (which is money). Or they'll feel happier (which is more important than money sometimes, eh?). Get to yes. Argue with the going wisdom of the day, with the "we have no budget" or "we're not planning to do that until 2011" or "we have a supplier already." Invite your prospect to look at a situation through new eyes and improve results.

We're operating in a new environment. Picture yourself trying to perform everyday tasks in a weightless environment. Your cereal floats away. You can't move from here to there the way you used to. Doing business today is similar. People don't often pick up their phones unless they expect your call. They may make decisions by doing research online rather than talking to people like you. They do without, or they do things themselves. (How many major corporations have taken to creating their own sales materials, for example, or simply have no current materials? Oh, there's nothing more impressive than the sales rep drawing the new automation system on a frayed paper napkin at Burger King to show to a key prospect, I'll tell you!) Take the time to dream up new ways to help your prospect, and to speak to his or her real concerns, which are very likely different than they were two years ago.

Since you're wide awake anyway, walk away from the lagging crowd. Think for yourself or find a fresh new adviser or partner with whom to share ideas. Figure out how to develop, value, sell, and build market share for your product or service. Learn about the new tools and techniques, motivations and buy signals that work in a strange new world, even as the pundits wring their hands and your competition slumps in its seats.

By the way, coffee helps.

Compelling selling.

Some people love the process of sales. For the rest of us, it's a challenge. That challenge is heightened during difficult economic times.

Following are some of the lessons our sales team has learned through experience, trial-and-error and the wisdom of others:

First, make sure you're selling something worth buying. Give yourself a break! Some people can sell ice cubes to citizens of the frozen far north, but the rest of us will do a lot better marketing something that has value to the prospect... even if the prospect doesn't know it yet.

In a tough economy, be ready to highlight the immediate benefits, cost savings opportunities, time saved, and other at-the-ready positives your product or service offers. Why? When money is tight, people tend to think short-term. Even corporations think short-term. In some cases, they feel they can't afford to do otherwise.

Stop talking. That's right. Learn about your prospect. What is s/he working on, concerned about and planning? Know this, and your sales message can address relevant needs.

Once again, stop talking. Once you've made your pitch, be quiet. Let your prospect ponder your offering, even let your prospect feel it's his/her turn to speak up. A little awkward silence at decision-making time can be a good thing.

Don't sell on price, but don't be insensitive to cost issues. In the end, cost will nearly always be a consideration. Just don't make it your selling point. Unless, of course, you have nothing else.

Be willing to follow up. We've all been subjected to fire-hose sales pressure. It's unpleasant. If what you're selling is of value, you can afford to be consultative. If you can't close the sale that day, ask when you can check in again. Sure, you may lose momentum... assuming you ever had it. Learn to know the difference between a prospect expressing genuine interest and one who is merely being polite to put you off.

Even if your prospects are thinking short-term, you shouldn't be. Someone who's interested in your product but not in a position to buy may be ready later. Too many salespeople drop the ball and lose longer term prospects.

Be likable. Despite online shopping, phone voice mail trees and other impersonal ways of doing business, personality still matters. When people are working with others, they gravitate toward those they like. Overbearing, single-minded and pushy aren't characteristics that come to mind when we say "likable." Consultative, warm, engaging, and having good listening skills are. Why does it matter? Because you want your prospects to take your next call or respond to your next email. You want their referrals. You want their business.

Painfully obvious PR from the man in charge.

"And I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick," proclaimed our president this morning in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show.

Some people may object to this remark because it is coarse. I object because it is disingenuous and clearly the brainchild of a media relations team. "President Obama! The American People think you're an effete intellectual. They think you lack emotion. They want to see you get mad!" And, "The American People do not want to hear about experts or scholars. They want you to get out there and KICK ASS!"

President Obama, polls or no polls, please speak with your authentic voice. Work with BP, work with everyone who can help clean up this terrible mess, build some regulations, kick some ass if necessary, but don't talk to us as if street fightin' is your way of life. Get real.

Thinking short-term?

If you're like many US company executives or entrepreneurs in 2010, you bet you are. And for good reasons.

-Shareholders are demanding results after a tumultuous run
-Cash flow is... eh
-You're itching to hire, to grow revenues... in short, to do what companies do best

Even as you focus on the immediate, you're no doubt aware that you mustn't lose sight of the more distant horizon (the cross country drive vs. the drag race). How can you align the two?

-Don't accept today what you don't want to live with tomorrow. Cutting your prices, appealing to a less-desirable customer or client echelon, conducting down-and-dirty marketing and sales campaigns... these choices may allow you to meet short-term goals, but if they harm your firm's market profile or long-term prospects, think twice. In fact, think about Wall Street investment firms and how some of them look to the public today (thanks in some measure to basing bonuses and such on short-term results).
-Even when you're generating the quick buck or the immediate sales, have your five-year game plan not only in mind but also in writing. Where does your company need to be? What is the path from A to B to C? Post Great Recession, it may be time for a new marketing plan, perhaps even a new business plan. Talk with us.
-Get some help. Create an advisory board, talk with a well-reputed business growth consultant, watch what's going on in your industry and similar industries. Remember that 2013 will look as different from 2010 as did 2007. Conditions are changing as we speak.

We welcome your perspective, either as a comment to the blog or through a private email to our offices.

Navigating the arithmetic of economic recovery: A guide for mid-size businesses

[caption id="attachment_783" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Synergy and momentum matter."][/caption]

Just as there is arithmetic to recovering in the investment market, there is a logic and arithmetic involved in business recovery. Specifically, it's often easier to lose ground than it is to win it back.

In the investment market, if you lose 40% of your $10,000 investment, you have $6,000 left. When that remaining investment adds 40%, you have... $8,400. What a bother.

Similarly, a recession can create business losses that are challenging to recoup... and they aren't all strictly in the numbers.

For example, a large business customer may pull its business "temporarily" during a recession. Getting that customer buying again can be an uphill battle. Getting the customer back to or above its previous level of purchasing can be even tougher. During the customer's hiatus, it has probably been courted by your competition, with great deals, low prices and - gulp - perhaps a fresher approach.

Many businesses reduced their marketing and hence shrunk their visibility during the last difficult quarters. Now they need to regain what they've lost in terms of being "top of mind" - ramping up marketing will require serious, insightful and ongoing effort now if it's been shelved or minimal in the last year or two.

Were your engineers busily designing the next great thing during the slowdown? Great - you can come out shining. However, if the malaise meant that R&D was stalled and that even the best minds in your company were dulled by lack of sales and incentive, it's time to refresh your approach and your offerings, because your competition will or has done so already.

Has the sales team been keeping in touch with all its customers and prospects, or has it, as in the infamous sales saga of Glengarry Glen Ross been waiting for the "good leads" and better times? There is no time NOT to be selling.

Today... while the past certainly affects your firm, days gone by matter now primarily as a lesson. Starting today, you have the need and you've absorbed the arithmetic. You know that a concentrated, energetic and smart effort distinguishes the companies that will soon regain their momentum and reach new heights from those that will not. This is true even if your revenues are down, your staff is reduced and you've borrowed money. It will take more work and more applied intelligence to gain ground than it took to lose it, just as it does in the investment market.

How is your company addressing the recovery? Please comment or email us privately with your thoughts.

The courageous consultant

Maybe it's because the business climate is hardening, or perhaps it's because vSA as a company has reached the ripe old age (25) when we're much hungrier to do what's right for a client than simply what's expected. But in either case, we're encountering an increasing number of situations in which we feel called upon to give our clients answers to questions they may not have asked.

Typical issues include the continuation of business models as well as sales and marketing programs that have become limp remainders of what they used to be. Very basic examples in the sales and marketing arena have symptoms that include dependence on non-working outreach: large commitments to print industrial directories or yellow pages, networking through local chambers and other organizations that haven't updated their thinking or memberships in years, cold calling for rareified services, and keeping salespeople who cost more than they bring in. More problematic instances involve selling products that have become overly expensive compared to foreign knock-offs, perpetuating processes or technologies that are being washed over by tidal waves of newer ideas, and trying to get more and more work from fewer and less prosperous customers. The most intractable problems are faced by companies struggling to sustain a business service or product line that is – well, today's typewriter. Products are becoming obsolete faster than ever. A glance into the computer graveyard in vSA's storage room (or perhaps your own) is ample testimony to this reality.

The need for tough solutions and big shifts in business practices has altered vSA's work as well, making it harder and yet more rewarding. Marketing is certainly enjoyable when we bring exciting new sales and opportunities. Today, rewarding and fun strategic marketing has married the stern face of business consulting. This partnership has become crucial because when clients call upon us to develop programs to build their sales and market share, we occasionally see that structural changes to their business processes, model or offerings are required before outreach is appropriate. Our work begins further upstream, supporting change to meet the spoken and unspoken needs of the client's prospects, customers and other influentials.

So, that's where the courageous consultant comes in. Just like a physician telling a patient that change must start with quitting drinking, losing weight or controlling his mood swings, vSA professionals do the right thing by helping clients build or rebuild for the wild and crazy future. In those cases, we don't simply put a bandage on the client's offerings and start marketing whatever we've got. Not when the stakes are so high for our client.